Max Van Doren is an assistant at a top talent agency in Hollywood. She fears no one takes her serious because of her small size.
She is crushing on the sexy bartender at her favorite queer bar. But doesn’t have the courage to tell her.
With the help of her roommate she does a viral self help program to reach her goals. Will this help or turn her world upside down?
I enjoyed reading this, the characters are realistic and down to earth.. A romantic read that’s sexy and funny.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for the chance to read and review this one.

So, this one is a bit difficult to write a review for. On one hand, there were a lot of aspects of this story that I really enjoyed - I liked the self-actualisation aspect, and I found Max to be a pretty relatable in wanting more for her life in terms of having queer friends and community. I think some people would probably find Max a bit irritating, because she's complaining she wants friends and yet she does have a friend that invites her out to drinks frequently, and a roommate that's always inviting her to join her in friend hangouts that Max just turns down each time -but like, I related to that too unfortunately.

I also liked that this was a butch4butch romance - although neither character seems to identify that way and the word butch is NEVER used in the actual story, so maybe it's disingenuous to advertise the book as butch4butch. Don't want to label people with labels they themselves don't use, even if those people are fictional. But I did enjoy that neither character was super fem, because no offense to femmes, but sometimes I just want to read a Sapphic romance that's just about women that don't give a fuck about femininity.

And another thing I liked about this book was it's setting. It's set in LA, and I'm sure I've read other books set in LA before, but this one wrote about LA in the same way other authors write about London and New York. Like, I've read SO many books set in London and New York that just drop place mentions and complain about little things about living there, and go on dates to interesting places in those cities. And any other book I've read set in LA have just been about rich people in rich houses taking chauffeured cars to expensive restaurants, right? But this one feels more like those New York and London books, about a working-class person's commute to and from work and the bars she frequents, and I did like that. The date spots she and Sadie visited to were fun to hear about too.

Problems I have with this book: I think this is being advertised as a romance genre book and it isn't that. Like there IS a romance in it, but maybe 30% of the plot is dedicated to that romance, and the rest is fully just about Max learning to sort her life out and gain some confidence. So if you like character-driven story you'll probably still like this, but if you're looking for a romance-centric romance book, you'll probably get bored.

And talking about being bored. This book is apparently 320 pages long, but to me it felt like 600. It was SO long. The first 25% really drags, and then I got really into the story from the 25%-65% mark, but at that point I thought, okay cool so the story should be wrapping up around now, only to realise that I'd only just hit the 70% mark and there were like 3 and a half hours of reading left ahead of me. And maybe if the book had divided itself into 3 parts - like a Before You Point Oh, You Point Oh, and After You Point Oh - that might have helped in some way? But I cannot stress enough that it took me an entire week to read this book, and I would usually be able to read a 300 page book in 2 or 3 days - and I didn't mind the writing style or find it difficult to read! It just felt SO long! I was so tempted to just skim-read the last 30%, but I refrained. But I really think aspects of this story could have just been cut out completely to make it shorter and focus on more important plot points (and focus more on the romance) instead of just following a character in her day-to-day life trying to like make her life look more like her vison board of whatever. Like, I also think the two sex scenes in the book (which both happen around the 70% mark) just did not fit in with the tone of the rest of the plot at all (because, again, this doesn't FEEL like a romance book), and should probably have just been fade-to-black sex scenes.

And another thing I didn't love was how the character's weren't fully described in how they look on introduction. Like Max would describe how the character's hair style or clothes looked, and then pages or even chapters later would drop "oh and she has dark skin" or "oh and she's plus-sized" and like. It's just a personal preference, but it's nice if the author just fully describes what the character looks like from the get go so I know how to picture them fully in my head. I feel like this book is going to get advertised as a butch4butch story with a plus-sized love interest, and I fully did not realise Sadie was meant to be fat (or even just curvy) until like the first aborted sex-scene where Max said Sadie's tshirts hide her curves.

On the topic of the writing style - I didn't mind it. I did get engrossed with it at times. But at some point I noticed that the word "laugh" was used SO often - like Max would just say something innocuous, and suddenly "everyone cracked up laughing", and I was reading it thinking, okay well it wasn't THAT funny, but yeah I can see it was meant to be a joke. At some point I gave up and just searched the book to see how many times the word laugh and it's iterations are used, and it's 181 times. This book is 320 pages long and uses the word laugh 181 times - that's 1.7 laughs per page. At some point it just felt like this book was trying to gaslight me into thinking it's funnier than it is. Like, it did manage to get SOME laughs out of me - there's maybe 3 parts I found worth chuckling over - but it wasn't worth 181 laughs. And once you notice something like that about a book it's really difficult not to constantly get distracted by it.

So, yeah, it's difficult to decide between a 3 and a 4 star for me. I did really like aspects of it, but writing this review I definitely have more things I disliked than I had realised.

First, thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC!
I don’t always love romance, but this was such a good book! Reading this at the start of a new year, when everyone wants to start fresh, was also very refreshing. I loved that the plot was centered around romance, but Max’s story also relied heavily on self-improvement, her career and social life. Max was one of the most relatable characters I’ve read about. As someone in their mid-twenties, I can relate to feeling lost and behind in life. This was a light-hearted, related and comforting read!

Amy Spalding is a knockout romance writer. If you're not reading her romances, you need to look at your life and make better choices. AT HER SERVICE is no exception. Max and Sadie are so easy to relate to and root for and damn hot. I don't live in LA but I love how Spalding makes the city a character and an integral part of all her books and it's no different here. This book digs into socioeconomic issues, class, and influencer culture while also being so grounded in a deeply satisfying love story.
Love it, love it!

This book is a fun read for both fans of Spalding’s last hollywood romance, For Her Consideration, and new readers alike. Featuring a character from FHC and building on that universe, it has fun easter eggs for fans while also working as a standalone new adult romance. This book does a lot well in terms of character development, and plotting. I liked the way that it showed some of the discordance between the way Max saw herself, the way others saw Max, and the way Max saw others, it felt really real to being in your mid-20s and feeling sort of stuck even if you’re “successful” on paper. It was fun to have a romance that also explored friendship, career, and self-image in a thoughtful way. For me, sadly, the romance was the weakest part. The chemistry and build up just didn’t quite get there for me, and it was the part of the story that I cared the least about. This might be my own thing where friends/acquaintances to lovers and miscommunications are just not my favorite tropes, but things just felt a little too obvious at times. Overall I still would recommend this book, had a good time, and look forward to reading more from Spalding.

This was my second Amy Spalding book and probably my last. I really didn't click with this one either, I was so detached from the characters, which was also the case with the previous book "For her consideration" and it felt very repetitive when it comes to the theme of those books. It wasn't necessarily bad either but I don't think I'm a fan of their writing nor their characters. And I'm not from LA so a lot of things were confusing as hell. 2.5 stars

“At Her Service” was such a cute romance and I read it so fast, but I think I still enjoyed “For Her Consideration” more. The characters reminded me a lot of Casey McQuiston's “One Last Stop”, so if you liked that one, you'll probably like this one too. The love story between Sadie and Max was so refreshing from both sides but it was Max’s friendships that shone for me, the different connections she had with each of them was so lovely in their own ways. Max is such a relatable character as she wants to move ahead at work, make friends and have a long lasting loving relationship. Sadie has dreams of her own. Sadie and Max learn to lean on each other and trust each other. It is great to see the relationship develop and grow. I liked how they described Johnny’s as community and worked to save it. I definitely wanted to shake Max at the beginning of the book, but we've all been stuck in our rut at points. Sadie the bartender is a shy, humble, great person that you will be cheering for. I wished we had more of Sadie and Max at the end of the book. I loved when Ari and Nina popped up from FHC, but I wanted MORE of that couple. I know they weren’t the main characters of the book, but I still wanted to read about them more than what we got. I'm hoping we get a sequel featuring them since it seemed like Amy created a nice opportunity for an Ari/Nina sequel with what we learned in AHS. Thanks to Amy Spalding, Netgalley and Kensington Books. I am looking forward to whatever Amy writes next.

I really enjoyed At Her Service , although I felt some of it was a bit rushed in places and I would have liked certain characters to have the opportunity to develop more.
Loved the concept of Max following the series of things to that were meant to help her take charge of her life- I wish I had something like this 😂

This was a great read to start off 2024

Where was Amy Spalding when my twenty-year-old self needed a cool, relevant writer to produce stories that were this authentic? Probably not born, but ah, well, at least she is releasing stories now that are likely hitting their intended audience.

At Her Service is going to be released in early 2024, and I am telling you know, jump on it. Pre-order, add it to you’re TBR, but bump it up towards the top. Just make sure you check it out.

Max is an adorably sweet assistant who dreams of becoming the next great talent agent. She dreams big while sitting in a bar, across from the sexy bartender she is crushing on, and life is great. But is it happening fast enough?

When her roommate Chelsey, social media influencer, catches her on a bad day, she agrees to ‘self-actualize’ in front of an audience of half a million followers, because getting the dream job, and the dream girl, seem like something she could never do on her own.
In the end, Max has to understand that the things she really wants are there for the taking. Sometimes, though, it takes a little longer than expected.

My favourite thing about any Amy Spalding book I have read so far is how relatable her characters are. She does a brilliant job of dragging them in off of today’s streets and introducing the reader to a broken down, yet ready to be built character. The authenticity seeps out of the pages, and the mistakes that are made are cringeworthy because we have all been there! At Her Service is a beautifully written story we can all relate to in one way or another.

I received an ARC from the author via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

For Her consideration was an awesome novel in 2023.

I love the authors writing and this cover is awesome nice and colorful. I love any setting with social media or podcast. Was definitely a great book and great plot. I love the characters and the build again from the previous book.

Its more of a queer fiction and not romance. I will still read anything from the author.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

If you read Amy Spalding “For Her Consideration” you might recognize the main character Max who makes multiple appearances. This book can be read independently from “For Her Consideration” but I definitely recommend reading that one also!

Max has big dreams but has always shed away from making big moves in her life. When her influence famous roommate suggests a chance for her to join “You Point Oh” a self-actualizing app. Max is hesitant at first but after a disastrous day she gives in and decides to join.

Sadie the “Bartender” that Max has fantasized over ever since she discovered the bar she works at. When Max starts to learn how to be confident and “Make the big Move” she finally has a chance with Sadie. When Sadie discovers Max is working with the app and sharing all of her journey with her roommate. Including there relationship things take a turn and Max is headed towards heartbreak.

This book did not include as much romance as I would have liked but I really enjoyed the story of Max and how she develops into her true self. I loved getting an update on Nina and Ari!!

Thank you Kensingtons Books and NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review

I decided to give Amy Spalding and her adult sapphic romances another shot because this was a butch4butch story and we don't get a lot of those. Unfortunately I ran into the exact same issue as last time: Spalding's writing is boring and the target audience are clearly fellow LA/Hollywood liberals (although this book does have some relatively interesting things at the end about pricey self-help services).

Despite this book being supposedly a romance, it's more about Max' life, her career (which is is very similar to the one the MC in For Her Consideration had, Madame Amy Spalding I know what your career is) and about influencing. Sadie as a character never stood to me in any particular way but once again I believe this is due to Spalding's writing being boring especially when it comes to characters as well as the story lacking a strong emotional hook that made me want to keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I feel like I read this at the perfect time. The new year and something about this year, particularly, has really made the quarter life crisis start setting in. I’ve felt so much anxiety about how I’m not where I thought I would be and how I still feel like a kid (the dedication is something I’ve said countless times). I felt like once you’re a certain age, you’re supposed to have it all figured out because everyone else around you (seemingly) already has. Amy Spalding did such a great job of organizing thoughts like these and exploring them through our main character, Max. I couldn’t believe how relatable she was, feeling lost and pathetic being in her mid-twenties and not living the exact life she had dreamed of. Also related a lot to Max’s self-fulfilling prophecies. She was so convinced of her own shortcomings that she was unable to see all the ways people admired her. I also really appreciate how Spalding portrayed almost every character as relating to at least some part of Max’s struggle. It’s so easy to get in your own head and convince yourself you’re the only one who is “behind” just like Max did, but in reality, most people in her life also felt behind and even like Max was “outdoing” them. It’s all about perception and for some reason we’ve all been fed this idea that you’re supposed to magically have it all together once you hit a certain age.
I do wish we had seen more of Max and Sadie together. I went in thinking it would fully be focused on the romance, but I think it was more about Max coming into herself and making strides toward the life she wanted. Which I still loved, just didn’t fully expect! I still would’ve liked to see more of Sadie.
Also, the way this brings up the importance of queer spaces and community is so heartwarming.
Overall, this was highly relatable, funny, and just a really uplifting story. I’m glad it’s coming out soon because I think it’s perfect for starting the new year.

The first book of the year is complete!!

This was cute, it was a bit touch and go with how invested I was at times but ultimately It was a nice read. In the beginning, I found Max a bit exhausting, the constant putting down of herself was A LOT - but also it's a real thing a lot of people struggle with so it was nice to see an MC challenge that.

I liked Sadie as a love interest though I would have loved to actually get her POV - I think it would have really helped contrast how Max sees herself with how the world sees her.

I liked Chelsey for most of the story but think she got let off a bit too easy for her decisions near the end, not that she's a terrible person who needed to be exiled but idk I would have liked at least a bit more grovelling tbh.

The reason I couldn't give this more than 3 stars is that I just don't think it left much of an impression on me, and for a 4-5 stars It's really gotta hit me hard.

Summer of Jordi Parez was SO damn good and I've just yet to have any of Amy's adult books stick with me that hard.

Thank you to Netgally and Kensington Books for an E-Arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

I got to read this arc, and I was so excited to start reading it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher. I enjoyed this book. Would recommend it to someone looking for a quick read.

Totally my fault for not realizing that this was a follow up/same universe to For Her Consideration, which I haven't read. However that did not affect my reading this one much at all. At Her Service is a delightful and fun Sapphic romcom filled with tons of queer rep and wonderful characters.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a good book but I don’t think it was really for me personally. It was hard for me to get into and I think that was mainly due to the social media influencer/self-actualization journey storyline which was much heavier plot than the romance itself. I’m mid-30s so while I usually don’t have trouble connecting to younger characters in novels but I did this time unfortunately. I mostly struggled to connect with Max, but Sadie I was able to a bit more. I still think the book was good and I would recommend to others but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a romance, more as contemporary queer fiction.

For Her Consideration was one of my favorite reads of 2023, so I was really excited to get an early copy of At Her Service.

Max is feeling like her life needs some new direction when her influencer roommate approaches her about taking on a self-actualization challenge using a new app. At first Max is skeptical, but after a particularly bad day, she decides to go for it.

One of Max's goals is regarding her love life, and the object of her affection is a local bartender, Sadie. Sadie has goals to own the bar that her uncle opened, while making it a more modern space.

I loved all the characters -- although there are times I would have liked to shake some sense in to Max, I was rooting for all of them, and I loved seeing the changes that Max was making while working towards her goals. I enjoyed her relationships with her coworkers, and the dynamic with her roommate. I also loved the cameos from the characters in For Her Consideration -- loved seeing how things were turning out for them.

I especially enjoyed the team that Max joined and what a sweet and fun community that turned out to be for her.

You can read this without having read For Her Consideration, but I recommend reading that one first. The main character has a reoccurring role in this book, and Max is in the first book as well. 

I also that Max is five-foot even because I am too! She used this in such an empowering way and I loved to see that.

I am definitely an Amy Spalding super-fan now and will be eagerly reading all her future books!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This book was so good and so cute! A queer romcom dobe right. I love the main character and could relate to a lot of what she was going through. So excited I go to read this story.

This book was such a lovely surprise for me to read.

The main character is on a journey of self actualization and is navigating her personal and professional life. I felt as though the character was so relatable as she struggled with feelings of inadequacy, making friends and just not feeling as though she accomplished anything.

My favorite part was the backstory of the bar where our main characters meet- it’s beautiful.

This was my first book by the author and I’m looking forward to reading more!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!